MANCHESTER, England: No Erling Haaland, no problem for Manchester City.
Even without the Premier League’s leading scorer, Pep Guardiola’s team came from behind to rout Liverpool 4-1 on Saturday and stay in pursuit of first-place Arsenal.
Haaland, who has scored 42 goals in all competitions this season, was ruled out of the game at Etihad Stadium after failing to recover from a groin injury.
But even after falling behind to a 20th-minute strike from Mohamed Salah, City powered back with goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish to keep the pressure on Arsenal and deliver another blow to Liverpool’s Champions League qualification hopes.
The game represented one of the biggest remaining tests in City’s league campaign. Defeat would have given Arsenal the chance to extend their lead at the top to 11 points.
And that looked like a real possibility when Liverpool scored against the run of play early on, with Diogo Jota bursting past City’s high defensive line and laying off to Salah to sweep a shot into the corner.
But City evened the score when Alvarez, Argentina’s World Cup winning striker, converted Grealish’s cross in the 27th.
Liverpool had no answer to City’s attacking quality in the second half, with De Bruyne poking home a cross from Riyad Mahrez less than a minute after the restart.
Gundogan added a third from close range in the 54th, and Grealish got a deserved goal to round off the scoring in the 74th.
The win moved City to within 5 points of Arsenal before the Londoners’ game against Leeds later in the day.
Liverpool remain seven points off fourth-place Tottenham and still hasn’t won a league match at Etihad Stadium since 2015.
Jurgen Klopp’s team have now lost three straight games since routing Manchester United 7-0 last month.
Man City rout Liverpool 4-1 without injured Haaland
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Man City rout Liverpool 4-1 without injured Haaland
- The game represented one of the biggest remaining tests in City's league campaign
- Defeat would have given Arsenal the chance to extend their lead at the top to 11 points
Man United’s Jim Ratcliffe reminded of his responsibilities but no FA charge for ‘colonized’ claim
- Football Association will not be charging Ratcliffe over his comments
- Ratcliffe’s comments touched a nerve in Britain, where immigration is a divisive issue
MANCHESTER: Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe has been reminded of his “responsibilities as a participant in English football” after he triggered a storm of criticism for claiming Britain had been “colonized” by immigrants.
But England’s Football Association will not be charging Ratcliffe over his comments, which were widely condemned by political figures, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and the club’s supporters.
The governing body issued Ratcliffe with a reminder of his responsibilities when taking part in media interviews, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
British billionaire Ratcliffe, who owns petrochemicals giant INEOS, made the comments during an interview with Sky News, which aired last week.
“You can’t have an economy with 9 million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in,” he said. “I mean, the UK’s been colonized.”
Ratcliffe’s comments touched a nerve in Britain, where immigration is a divisive issue. He later said he was sorry his choice of language had “offended some people.”
Starmer had earlier called for him to apologize, saying “Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country.”
United fans, who are proud of the diversity within the team and their supporter base, also condemned his words.
The Manchester United Supporters Trust said the “senior leadership should make inclusion easier, not harder.”
Critics accused Ratcliffe of “hypocrisy,” saying he has chosen to make his home in Monaco to reduce his UK tax bill.
Carrick proud of Man United’s culture
United’s head coach, Michael Carrick, said earlier Friday that the Premier League club was proud of their culture of equality and diversity.
Carrick, who was recently hired as coach until the end of the season, faced the media for the first time since Ratcliffe’s remarks and he was asked for his response.
“Sir Jim has made a statement, and then the club’s made a statement on the back of it so for me to add to that is not my place,” he said. “What I can say is, as I’ve been around this club many, many years, we always make a huge impact globally.
“We’re really proud of the environment and the culture that we’ve got at the club, and equality and diversity and respect for each other is something that we look to carry through every day.”
